Frawley bemoans traveling record
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
12:21:39 AM Sun 6 July, 2003
Richmond coach Danny Frawley found some positives among the Tigers’ 28-point loss to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night, while again having to bemoan his team’s poor record outside of Victoria.
“I thought our effort was terrific but, again, efforts don’t get you four points,” Frawley said. “We just didn’t have enough polish on the night.
“We didn’t take our chances – you’ve got to do that interstate. We probably fell on our own sword a little bit. I thought it was a terrific contest. It probably would have been an ugly-looking game and it wasn’t meant to pan out that way.
“It was just a real hard-fought contest and there was a lot of pressure around the ball, so it was always going to be a trend where it was difficult to score goals.”
Richmond has lost its past 11 interstate matches, including all four this season, and has one more to play – against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in round 18.
“To play finals football, you’ve got to be able to win interstate and we’ve been unable to do that thus far (this year),” Frawley said.
“I suppose these two losses (to Brisbane at the Gabba last week and to Adelaide) are magnified by not winning games you may have thought you were a chance to win – against Carlton and the Kangaroos (in Sydney) – so these two games (Brisbane and Adelaide) were always going to be difficult when you look at the draw.
“But you still go into a game with a positive frame of mind. We thought our best was going to be good enough (against Adelaide) but our best ball-use wasn’t there unfortunately.
“We’re still right in the hunt. Finals are the furthest thing from my mind. We’ve just got to make sure we get reward for effort because the effort’s been there.
“The last couple of weeks, even though they haven’t been wins, there’s been improvement and that’s all you can ask for. We’re starting to get our structure back.
“Justin Blumfield’s having a run tomorrow (Sunday), and Billy Nicholls, Rory Hilton and Adam Fiora hopefully will get some form back in the VFL. So that’s really healthy as well, to get some pressure, and hopefully those boys perform well down in Tassie tomorrow.”
Frawley praised the form of experienced Adelaide defenders Nathan Bassett and Tyson Edwards and said: “You’ve got to remember where those guys are at. They were playing on (Andrew) Krakouer and (David) Rodan and (Marc) Dragicevic.
“We’ve just got to make sure our boys get a hell of a lot stronger. They’re probably two years away from getting that. The positive is they’ve played on some really good players and they now know what’s required to win or at least break even in a lot of those contests.”
Frawley said the Crows’ defenders outmarked the Tigers “far too easily” but he lauded his defenders for restricting the Crows to what he described as “a losing score”.
“If someone had told me before the game they’d have kicked 10, we would have taken that,” he said.
“I thought they (the defenders) were terrific. (Wayne) Campbell coming back … he and (Chris) Ladhams had a good duel. (Mark) Chaffey ran the ball out well. (Ben) Holland and (Wayne) Carey really had a real crack at each other, ‘Chopper’ (Andrew) Kellaway never stopped trying … and Paul Zantuck and (Chris) Newman.
“So our defence has been standing up under the pressure and that’s really pleasing, especially interstate – the crowd can be intimidating at times.
“You’ve only got to see the way Wayne prepares to know why he’s such a great player. We were confident if we could get him out there, he’d play really well.
“He led from the front. It was a bit of a different role for him on the backline but I thought he marshalled the troops well down there and his ball use was good. He was a really good steadying influence down there.”
Frawley said Tim Fleming’s form had been “a real positive over the last couple of weeks”
“He’s been able to do some terrific jobs on (Nigel) Lappin and now (Andrew) McLeod,” he said. “We’ve been really trying to get someone to fill the void of Duncan Kellaway. So hopefully Tim’s got all the credentials because he’s quick, he’s pretty hard at it and he loves having a dip.
“Wayne Brittain had a fair bit to do with him at Carlton. We had him at our pre-season three or four years ago and Carlton slipped him off us. We were going to rookie (list) him.”
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
12:21:39 AM Sun 6 July, 2003
Richmond coach Danny Frawley found some positives among the Tigers’ 28-point loss to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night, while again having to bemoan his team’s poor record outside of Victoria.
“I thought our effort was terrific but, again, efforts don’t get you four points,” Frawley said. “We just didn’t have enough polish on the night.
“We didn’t take our chances – you’ve got to do that interstate. We probably fell on our own sword a little bit. I thought it was a terrific contest. It probably would have been an ugly-looking game and it wasn’t meant to pan out that way.
“It was just a real hard-fought contest and there was a lot of pressure around the ball, so it was always going to be a trend where it was difficult to score goals.”
Richmond has lost its past 11 interstate matches, including all four this season, and has one more to play – against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in round 18.
“To play finals football, you’ve got to be able to win interstate and we’ve been unable to do that thus far (this year),” Frawley said.
“I suppose these two losses (to Brisbane at the Gabba last week and to Adelaide) are magnified by not winning games you may have thought you were a chance to win – against Carlton and the Kangaroos (in Sydney) – so these two games (Brisbane and Adelaide) were always going to be difficult when you look at the draw.
“But you still go into a game with a positive frame of mind. We thought our best was going to be good enough (against Adelaide) but our best ball-use wasn’t there unfortunately.
“We’re still right in the hunt. Finals are the furthest thing from my mind. We’ve just got to make sure we get reward for effort because the effort’s been there.
“The last couple of weeks, even though they haven’t been wins, there’s been improvement and that’s all you can ask for. We’re starting to get our structure back.
“Justin Blumfield’s having a run tomorrow (Sunday), and Billy Nicholls, Rory Hilton and Adam Fiora hopefully will get some form back in the VFL. So that’s really healthy as well, to get some pressure, and hopefully those boys perform well down in Tassie tomorrow.”
Frawley praised the form of experienced Adelaide defenders Nathan Bassett and Tyson Edwards and said: “You’ve got to remember where those guys are at. They were playing on (Andrew) Krakouer and (David) Rodan and (Marc) Dragicevic.
“We’ve just got to make sure our boys get a hell of a lot stronger. They’re probably two years away from getting that. The positive is they’ve played on some really good players and they now know what’s required to win or at least break even in a lot of those contests.”
Frawley said the Crows’ defenders outmarked the Tigers “far too easily” but he lauded his defenders for restricting the Crows to what he described as “a losing score”.
“If someone had told me before the game they’d have kicked 10, we would have taken that,” he said.
“I thought they (the defenders) were terrific. (Wayne) Campbell coming back … he and (Chris) Ladhams had a good duel. (Mark) Chaffey ran the ball out well. (Ben) Holland and (Wayne) Carey really had a real crack at each other, ‘Chopper’ (Andrew) Kellaway never stopped trying … and Paul Zantuck and (Chris) Newman.
“So our defence has been standing up under the pressure and that’s really pleasing, especially interstate – the crowd can be intimidating at times.
“You’ve only got to see the way Wayne prepares to know why he’s such a great player. We were confident if we could get him out there, he’d play really well.
“He led from the front. It was a bit of a different role for him on the backline but I thought he marshalled the troops well down there and his ball use was good. He was a really good steadying influence down there.”
Frawley said Tim Fleming’s form had been “a real positive over the last couple of weeks”
“He’s been able to do some terrific jobs on (Nigel) Lappin and now (Andrew) McLeod,” he said. “We’ve been really trying to get someone to fill the void of Duncan Kellaway. So hopefully Tim’s got all the credentials because he’s quick, he’s pretty hard at it and he loves having a dip.
“Wayne Brittain had a fair bit to do with him at Carlton. We had him at our pre-season three or four years ago and Carlton slipped him off us. We were going to rookie (list) him.”
